It is a common problem for traps and drains in a house to get blocked. In the kitchen they will often get blocked with coffee grounds, food and other debris that are washed down the drain when cleaning the dishes and the sink. In the bathroom hair and other debris will often clog the basin. Home owners often try to unclog the trap by pouring chemicals down the drain. While this may be successful in the short term these chemicals, if effective, will likely overtime degrade the integrity of the trap and drain pipes, as well as being harmful to the environment.
Alternatively, a number of gadgets have been suggested that can be used to unclog the trap but they have only limited success. For example there are some devices that are attachable to a tap for delivering pressurized water into the trap. However, typically these devices anticipate dislodging the clog by building up pressure behind the clog and essentially forcing the clog through the drain. In order to operate such a device it is intended that the drain to the trap be sealed around the device so that pressure can build up and it is the build-up of pressure that forces the clog through the trap. The problem with this approach is that in order to create enough pressure to push the clog through the trap the pressure would likely exceed the allowable pressures for the pipe, the joints and/or the fittings. Thus using such devices over time would likely degrade the pipe. As well, many of these devices have complex nozzles that may be prone to catching on the drains in the traps when being inserted and removed from the traps. Alternatively many of these devices have nozzles that only fit into the top of the trap and thus do not deliver the water directly to the clog.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a plumbing trap flushing device that is easy to use and does not rely on pressure build-up in the trap.